Box Office: RED

The comics-based RED did respectable numbers in its second week, pulling in another $15 million in receipts. That was enough to land it in the #3 spot, losing a notch on the charts to the newly opened Paranormal Activity 2 and placing it above the turgid and tedious Hereafter. The movie only lost about 31% of its audience, which is actually a low number compared to most second week films these days. Case in point: the #2 film Jackass 3D saw 58% of its audience take flight this week. RED's domestic tally now stands at $43 million.

Brubaker Updates INCOGNITO Movie

MTV Splash Page has an extensive Q & A with comics scribe Ed Brubaker, who talked about the return of his comic Incognito as well as the feature film that's being developed from it. Presently Robert Schenkkan (The Quiet American) is writing the script for the movie.

"It's full-steam ahead so far. We're expecting a draft in the next couple of weeks. Robert just went off on a research trip to scout some locations for the big finale," Brubaker revealed. "It's interesting because Robert is a friend of mine and I helped attach him to the project and everything, and he won an Emmy a month or so ago for being a producer on The Pacific, so that was nice."

Schenkkan related to Brubaker that the studio wants to be very faithful to the comics, which feature a super villain in witness protection, who becomes a masked vigilante to stave off the boredom of his now ordinary life. In the process, he attracts the attention of the criminal mastermind he helped put behind bars.

On another Brubaker movie, Sleeper, the writer had little to report describing himself as being "out of the loop."

GREEN HORNET beats IRON MAN 2 for Award

Sony's Green Hornet directed by Michel Gondry and starring Seth Rogen has snagged its first industry award, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

California On Location Awards were co-hosted by Joan Collins and Linda Gray at the Beverly Hilton on Sunday.

Hornet's 12-person team headed by Mike Fantasia win for "location team of the year" in the feature film category, besting Iron Man 2 and an untitled Ivan Reitman movie. Fantasia was also named "location professional of the year" for features.

So there you have it. We shall now refer to the film as the "award-winning Green Hornet."

Elba on GHOST RIDER 2 and THOR

Actor Idris Elba has a well-earned reputation for playing serious roles in intellectual fare like The Wire and his new BBC America show Luther. Because of that, the actor told EW.com that he sometimes gets a little grief for doing genre movies like Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance and Thor.

"I get criticized for taking roles in films like Ghost Rider 2, but if you look at my résumé, dude, I’ve mixed it up as much as I can," the actor said, laughing. "I love to play different roles. That’s just the kind of actor I am."

And from the sound of it, Elba got a lot of enjoyment out of playing Heimdall in Marvel's epic Norse mythology movie. When asked if there was a moment of that production with director Kenneth Branagh that was special to him.

"Every day. This is a man that’s an amazing actor. Just hearing him giving his take on how to mold me as an actor," Elba said. "This is a man that called me up personally and said, 'I know this isn’t a big role, but I would really love to see you play it.' It’s Kenneth Branagh. I was like, 'Definitely.'"

Marvel Pumps Brakes on RUNAWAYS

Although things were looking favorable for a spring production start on Marvel's Runaways movie, Deadline.com reported late last week that the studio is slowing development on the film.

The movie had a script by Drew Pearce (of the UK show No Heroics) and director Peter Sollett (Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist) attached. Back in September there were reports that Marvel was pegging a March production start.

But Deadline says Sollett has opted to do another movie first and Marvel is stretched thin focusing on the big three: Captain America, Thor and The Avengers. So while filming won't happen in March, the studio and director are still committed to making Runaways go, just later than anticipated.

Jennifer Lawrence on being X-MEN's New Mystique

Hollywood Elsewhere chatted with actor Jennifer Lawrence who talked a bit about X-Men: First Class. She plays Mystique in the prequel, which rewinds the characters from the previous film back to the 1960s.

Lawrence couldn't reveal much, but said that about 10% of her screen time is in in the blue-skinned form, which takes the makeup crew about six hours to apply. She also calls the makeup "Mystink".

Finally, she said fans will have to wait until closer to the June release to see any official photos of her in mutant form.

Here is one of THOR's Frost Giants

Eagle-eyed eBayers at Superhero Hype noticed a set of action figures from the Thor movie up for auction this week. Among them was a set including Odin, Loki and a dude who very much appears to be a Norse Frost Giant. The figure is a bit taller than the other two, and has an icy look.

If this is, in fact, representative of the ice ogres we'll see in the movie, we can see that they went with tall and lanky instead of big and burly (as they're often seen in the comics).

Thor arrives in theaters May 6.

LOCKE & KEY Gets Pilot Greenlight

The TV series pilot based on Joe Hill's terrific comic Locke & Key has been given the green light by 20th Century Fox TV, according to Deadline.com.

The report had us scratching our heads a bit, as Fox had already commissioned a series from DreamWorks TV and producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Fringe, Star Trek). But officially shooting the pilot is the next step in the process.

The show is written by Josh Friedman of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, who is also showrunner and executive producer.

Published by IDW, the book focuses on a family, recovering from the tragic murder of the father and trying to resume their lives by moving into the familial New England home, a spooky old house with lots of secrets. The house contains special doors which have an effect on people should they pass through them. It's also home to an evil entity that may be the source of all of the family's troubles.

Rob M. Worley is the writer and creator of the all-new, all-cat kids comic book series Scratch9. Issues #1 and #2 are in stores now. Issue #1 is also available as a digital download via iVerse Media's iTunes app. Come see Rob at the Detroit Fanfare Comics Convention on October 30th and 31st!

I'm not into Horror Comics so LOCKE & KEY is news to me but i'll probably check it out... like it ... and then hate it just like another FOX Comic Adaptation called "Human Target"

And as far as Idris Elba is concerned i've FUXED with him since Stringer Bell on the Wire and all i'm interested to know and see is if they'll put him in "White Face" lol to play a Nordic God if so ... WOW Hollywood ( I'm Black BTW so you don't have to pretend to be offended lol)

Not to pick a nit but the house contains special doors which have an effect on people should they pass through them is not entirely accurate, it's not the doors. The keys are what are special, there have been several that have been found around the house. Just got done reading the second trade and thought it was excellent. I'm intrigued to see how they're are going to do this as a series.